Fatal crash 'could have been a lot worse'

A Denison woman died Wednesday after she attempted to pass a line of vehicles on U.S. Highway 30, swerved off the roadway to avoid an oncoming vehicle and then struck another head-on.

Shelly Waldemar, 48, of Denison, was eastbound just east of Westside at about 10:10 a.m. when she tried to pass four vehicles that were traveling between 55 and 60 mph, Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Caltrider said today.

Near the end of the pass, Waldemar swerved left onto the roadway’s shoulder to avoid an oncoming vehicle, then swerved back onto the roadway where her sport utility vehicle collided head-on with a truck driven by Scot Stoelk, 53, of Westside.

The crash pushed Waldemar’s vehicle into the eastbound lanes where it collided with a van — which rode at the front of the pack of vehicles Waldemar tried to pass — driven by Mark Rickers, 61, of Westside.

Waldemar’s vehicle rolled onto its top and halted in the eastbound lanes. The woman was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony Regional Hospital where she later died of undisclosed injuries.

Stoelk was treated for unspecified injuries and released from the hospital Wednesday. Rickers suffered minor or no injuries.

Caltrider said the three other drivers that Waldemar passed slowed after the woman went onto the roadway’s shoulder and were able to avoid the crash.

“This could have been a lot worse,” Caltrider said.

Investigators have not determined how fast Waldemar was traveling at the time of the head-on collision. Stoelk, the truck driver, was going about 55 to 60 mph, Caltrider said.